CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

The National Dream ► John A. MacDonald wanted to build

a Canadian nation from coast to coast

►He felt that the only way to realize this dream was to build a transportation and communication link to join British North America

► Feared the west would be swallowed up by the USA – had to be built quickly

The Railway

►BC had joined Confederation in 1871 with a promise of the construction of the CPR within 10 years

►1st task Find financiers (people who back

a project with money)

►Wanted people to finance the project in return for financial benefits from the government

►MacDonald wanted to find Canadian financiers – American support would increase the chance of annexation

Sir Hugh Allan

►Only major industrialist in Canada who had enough money to finance the railway

►Created the Canadian Pacific Railway

Company a company that seemed Canadian

►Was really controlled by Northern Pacific Railway (an American company run by Jay Cooke)

► 1872 – MacDonald called a general election (first since Confederation)

►Conservatives realized that they did not have enough money to woo voters successfully

►George-Etienne Cartier wrote two memos to Allan regarding finances

-one promised Allan the CPR contract -the second listed the contributions that Allan was

to make to the Conservative Party

The Pacific Scandal ►Details of the bribes are leaked to the press ► Public is outraged at MacDonald and the

Conservatives ►Conservatives admitted that Sir Hugh Allan had given their party $350,000 during the election campaign of 1872 ► Forced to resign as government in 1873 ►Alexander Mackenzie becomes Prime Minister (Liberal Party)

►There was no railway construction during this administration

►However, Canadian Pacific Survey continued

under the direction of Sandford Fleming ►Survey investigated the routes the

railway could take

The National Policy

► During the election of 1878, MacDonald advocated the National Policy which included:

- high tariffs - rapid completion of the Pacific railway - encouragement of growth of

population & settlement of the west through immigration

► MacDonald & the Conservatives were returned to power

Tariffs

Tax on imported American goods:

► Protects Canadian

manufacturing ► Make American goods

more expensive than Canadian produced goods

► Encourages people to buy Canadian products

Western Settlement

► Canadian government wanted to encourage settlement of the west by farmers

► These farmers

would produce grain crops, mostly for export

The CPR

► The West could not develop as a centre for agricultural export until goods could be transported in and out of the region

► The CPR still needed private investors to fund the construction of the railway

MacDonald approached:

►George Stephen of the Bank of Montreal

►Donald Smith, of the Hudson’s Bay Co.

►James J. Hill, an expatriate Canadian

investing in US railways

The Offer

►Upon completion of the railway line, they would receive:

- $25 million - Land grant of 25 million acres - A monopoly on all rail traffic west of Lake

Superior for 20 years - An exemption from tax on all lands

►The CPR Syndicate (Stephen, Hill & Smith) promised to complete the transcontinental railway within ten years

►The contract was approved by Parliament

on February 1st, 1881

Problems

► The CPR Syndicate changed the route of the railway

► Information collected by the Canadian Pacific Survey was irrelevant

► Unclear how they would pass through the Rocky Mountains into BC

► Slow start to construction ► Only 230 km of track had been

laid in 1881

William Van Horne & the CPR

►General manager of a US railway ►Intelligent & dedicated ►He introduced a high level of efficiency in to

the railway company ►1882 & 1883 – over 1600km of track were

laid ►On track to complete the railway on

schedule, as long as there were funds

►CPR built by hand & 1000s of people were needed to do the job

►More than 35,000 workers were involved

►Working conditions were terrible – dust from the dynamite blasts, insects, over-crowding and filthy in the bunk houses, leaky roofs, no plumbing, poor diet

►Dangerous job & no medical facilities ►Those who were injured on the job were

fired

Chinese Workers ► Andrew Onderdonk – contractor

in charge of building the BC stretch of railroad

► To keep costs down he brought in 1000s of Chinese workers

► Only men came – left families in China

► Most of these workers had one major goal – save enough money to return to China and buy land

►They were very poorly treated ►Were paid less than half the wage of white

workers ►Expenses were taken from pay and they

were left with very little money ►Given the most dangerous jobs ►After the construction of the CPR had

finished – most Chinese had no choice but to stay in Canada, even though they did not feel welcome

CPR “Saves the Nation”

►1885 – Northwest Rebellion broke out the CPR allowed the government to react quickly

►This event showed many Canadians why the CPR was necessary

►CPR was able to ask the government for more money to help complete the railway

►Completed 1885 – 5 years ahead of schedule